Tempura Ramen
by Hiruma Youichi
Summary: Oneshot, AU. The Retrieval Team succeed in bringing back and Sasuke and come over for Christmas. They talk over their dinner of Tempura Ramen.


Tempura Ramen

Disclaimer: I do not own Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto or any other characters.

"Merry Christmas, Sasuke!"

The Uchiha looked up from his kunai. _Christmas?_ There was something he hadn't celebrated in a long while. Not that he could or wanted to in the past anyway, what with his clan murdered and all. Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Neji, Akimichi Chouji, and Inuzuka Kiba had just barged through his front door, not to mention a gang of Kage Bunshins carrying wrapped presents as well as a Christmas tree. Sasuke took up his kunai and glanced at it, happy to see that it was polished well, before placing it into his holster. He _had_ vaguely recalled that Naruto mentioned something about coming over awhile for Christmas, but obviously he hadn't paid a lot of heed to it. He didn't even have any decorations or presents ready. The gang of male genins(and one chuunin) all wished him the customary 'merry christmas', before busying themselves with the Christmas tree and the presents. Sasuke decided that he wasn't planning to do anything much anyway, so might as well go on with it.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. It wasn't difficult for ninja of their caliber to notice the 4-man ANBU team currently in the Uchiha compound when the ANBU weren't particularly trying to conceal themselves. Although on the other hand, it was perhaps an unspoken message between them: "_Yeah, we know they're there, you know they're there, let's not talk about it and ruin the festive the festive mood."_ Sasuke decided he might as well get into the spirit of things. After all, contrary to popular belief, Sasuke did not in fact hate gatherings much, he just preferred to keep quiet, although it was true that he'd much rather be out there training. But that was the old Sasuke, now, not so much.

"So… what are we eating?" Sasuke asked. He didn't notice anyone bringing in any sort of food supplies. The others looked at him a bit furtively.

"Well, basically, Naruto mentioned that you had a stock of food supplies during winter…" Kiba replied.

"_Wait a minute. Don't tell me…"_

"We're eating whatever you have, Sasuke." Hyuuga Neji was not one to beat around the bush. Sasuke groaned softly. It was just like Naruto, who undoubtedly planned this, to do things so haphazardly without any sort of back-up plans. Not to mention, while he did have a stock of food supplies, there was no guarantee that it was enough to feed the substantial appetite of one Akimichi Chouji.

"Who's cooking?" Sasuke asked. _"If they're going to make me cook too…"_

"Oh, don't worry about that, I'll be cooking, Sasuke," Chouji answered. Sasuke directed Chouji to the pantry before sitting down on the sofa. The lights on the Christmas tree were working now and the other ninja were soon sitting on Sasuke's sofa. Sasuke smiled humorlessly in contrast to the bright, flashing lights on the Christmas tree. It looks like they were waiting for the 'formalities' to be over before talking about it. Sasuke sighed.

"How's your finger, Shikamaru?"

"…"

"…It's fine," Shikamaru replied.

"Sasuke—" Naruto started, but Kiba clamped his hand over the blond's mouth. Although perhaps a bit rash, reckless, and full of himself at times, Kiba was still perceptive enough to tell when one should talk during times like this. It was perhaps because of his large family, that it has become quite instinctive to him.

"Where should I start…?" Sasuke wondered aloud. After his successful retrieval, the Godaime Hokage had been reluctant to punish the Uchiha as heavily as he, according to protocol, should. After all, Tsunade was definitely reminded about a certain person, not least because of their similar circumstances and that certain person's involvement with the matter. Luckily, the council were loathe to heavily to punish the last Uchiha and risk losing the sharingan. Hence, Sasuke was banned from entering the chuunin exams for one year, and he was placed on probation with a 4-man ANBU team monitoring his activities at all times.

"We've heard about why, but I think we'd all rather hear about the reasons from our fellow ninja." That was Neji, surprisingly forgiving, addressing Sasuke in such a polite manner.

So Sasuke talked. He explained why, about his clan's massacre, about Itachi, about his revenge. For someone who had bottled up his feelings for years, with no one to talk to, no one he _wanted_ to talk to, he found it surprisingly easy, almost certainly because deep down he really did want to let it all out. Not once did anyone interrupt him. They knew how important it was. It went on for awhile before finally, Sasuke finished what he wanted to say.

There was a marked and tense silence for awhile. Mostly they were digesting the information, but at the same time, the awkward tension was stopping them.

"Ramen's done."

The genin got up and walked to the dining table, where there were steaming bowls of tempura ramen waiting for them. Naruto licked his lips and indeed the rest were happy to eat. After all, it was time dinner. Everyone muttered a soft 'Itadakimasu' and began to eat. There was some slurping of the broth and crunch of the fried tempura skin being broken. All the while, the silence reigned.

"Say, Sasuke, you don't like the tempura?" Naruto noticed. Sasuke was not touching his tempura at all.

"Yeah. I don't like it. I like eating prawns, just not fried."

"Well if you ask me, even if you don't like the tempura, it's something unavoidable. When the chef cooks his broth and places the tempura inside, already the flavor of the tempura is in the broth and the noodles. Even if you try to not eat the tempura to avoid the flavour, there will be traces of it elsewhere in the ramen." Naruto replied.

"It's still better than eating the tempura too and tasting even more of the flavour that I dislike."

"Maybe. I like to think it's a bit unfair to the tempura though. It's been made solely for eating, and yet you won't eat it. Running away from the tempura?" Shikamaru said jokingly.

"It's not like you can kill the goddamn cook either. Won't change the fact that he made tempura for you." Kiba slurped his noodles.

"What do you think I should do then? About the tempura?" Sasuke asked.

"Enjoy you noodles and broth, and don't brood over the tempura. But when the time comes, hey, take your tempura too. Even if you don't like it, there's nothing wrong with eating it," Naruto said, grinning. Soon, they finished their meal of ramen, and although Chouji wanted more, Shikamaru stopped him, with the logic that they weren't supposed to clean out Sasuke's food supplies in one day. He knew how much Chouji would eat once he gets going…

"Ah, that felt good." Naruto patted his belly, satisfied.

"So, what should we do next?" Sasuke asked, placing the tail of the tempura into his bowl.


End file.
